"Ostensibly they could have locked him up for three years straight and then released him on juvenile parole," Jay Leiderman, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented alleged members of Anonymous and LulzSec, told Wired. "But to keep someone off the Internet for six years - that one term seems unduly harsh. You're talking about a really bright, gifted kid in terms of all things Internet. And at some point after getting on the right path he could do some really good things. I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

A Shambling Mound:I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

A Shambling Mound:I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

MontanaDave:A Shambling Mound: I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

At no level did Mozart use a piano to rob people.

This. Fark the little dickwad.

No no no. You forget. A truly great leader takes everyone with talent. A truly great leader is both the hammer and the anvil, and will MAKE people useful. The kid is smart, the kid has instincts. You can shun him, or you can use him for your own devices. Rest assured. SOMEONE will use him. Right now he was just doing things for the lulz. Why not pay him a ton of money and stick him in the NSA? That's what I'd do.

no applause for illegal activity but i admire the IQ and mad skills. i find computers and the internet to be humbling. no matter how much you know there is so much more to know. on TV & movies all sorts of people are just mad genius with 'puters. these people don't exist in my life.

As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

Jay Leiderman, a Los Angeles attorney who has represented alleged members of Anonymous and LulzSec, told Wired...I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

Damn right. Can you imagine what the world would have missed out on if teenage Mozart's piano had been impounded after he used it in that bank heist?

FTFA: UG Nazi, which began as a politicized group that opposed SOPA, took down a bevy of websites this year, including those for NASDAQ, CIA.gov, and UFC.com. It redirected 4Chan's DNS to point to its own Twitter feed. Cosmo pioneered social-engineering techniques that allowed him to gain access to user accounts at Amazon, PayPal, and a slew of other companies.

"I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

luthia:As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

/now i have to watch hackers again. curse you people.

The alternative was several years in prison but he's being made an example of by being placed on probation for six years with supervised access to telecommunication devices.

He is not off the internet. He just can't use it without prior approval, and it cannot be unsupervised. Plus, he can use the internet for educational purposes. If he doesn't like it, he can just do the three year stretch and be done with it.

ThreeEdgedSword:A Shambling Mound: I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

A Shambling Mound:luthia: As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

/now i have to watch hackers again. curse you people.

The alternative was several years in prison but he's being made an example of by being placed on probation for six years with supervised access to telecommunication devices.

Got it.

Triumph:luthia: 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life

Every aspect of life completely ruined. Every aspect.

Aren't we farking sassy today.

The plea and subsequent probation are not the example, the charges are. Both of which I think are too strong for a 15 year old. The plea is a reaction to said example.

NASDAQOK, maybe, I get this one a little bit. You're mad at the big banks maybe, so you try to send a message.

CIA.govOK, I get this, secret prisons, injustice globally, toppling legitimate leaders to supplant them with US friendly stooges.

and UFC.comWT everloving F? No, seriously, that's what you went after? If it was because it was so easy, you should've put yourself as points leader, or reigning world champion, or whatever they do, and told the webmaster to invest in better security. Did you do it because you were angry at the result of a fight? Now I think you're a petty dickwad, and I don't follow, nor have I watched more than 3 UFC fights.

skinink:He is not off the internet. He just can't use it without prior approval, and it cannot be unsupervised. Plus, he can use the internet for educational purposes. If he doesn't like it, he can just do the three year stretch and be done with it.

He agreed to the terms, so I see nothing wrong with it.

This.Nobody is taking the computer away from him. He still will be able to learn and advance his computer knowledge, but it will be supervised. I all seriousness, during his probation period, he will probably be spending his non school time behind a desk at a FBI field office, and getting paid pretty well for it.

luthia:A Shambling Mound: luthia: As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

/now i have to watch hackers again. curse you people.

The alternative was several years in prison but he's being made an example of by being placed on probation for six years with supervised access to telecommunication devices.

Got it.

Triumph: luthia: 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life

Every aspect of life completely ruined. Every aspect.

Aren't we farking sassy today.

The plea and subsequent probation are not the example, the charges are. Both of which I think are too strong for a 15 year old. The plea is a reaction to said example.

Wired interview with Cosmo in which he freely admits to all of the charges and describes how ridiculously easy it was to social-engineer Paypal, Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy, etc.

Sail The Wide Accountancy:MontanaDave: A Shambling Mound: I feel that monitored Internet access for six years is a bit on the hefty side. It could sideline his whole life-his career path, his art, his skills. At some level it's like taking away Mozart's piano."

At no level did Mozart use a piano to rob people.

This. Fark the little dickwad.

No no no. You forget. A truly great leader takes everyone with talent. A truly great leader is both the hammer and the anvil, and will MAKE people useful. The kid is smart, the kid has instincts. You can shun him, or you can use him for your own devices. Rest assured. SOMEONE will use him. Right now he was just doing things for the lulz. Why not pay him a ton of money and stick him in the NSA? That's what I'd do.

/Agreed. If he's that smart..I would rather have him on our side with a nice paycheck sifting through terrorist communication and hacking THEIR sites than having him against us.

Zarquon's Flat Tire:Kid will be on a burner or something by the end of the week. Then he will figure out the next gen mobile banking based scams.

And then he'll be prosecuted as an adult due to it being his second felony prosecution.

I mean, he's pretty bad at cons. How can you tell? Dude not only got caught, but left enough evidence to get arrested. We're more in "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" territory than taking away Mozart's piano.

Jim_Callahan:Zarquon's Flat Tire: Kid will be on a burner or something by the end of the week. Then he will figure out the next gen mobile banking based scams.

And then he'll be prosecuted as an adult due to it being his second felony prosecution.

I mean, he's pretty bad at cons. How can you tell? Dude not only got caught, but left enough evidence to get arrested. We're more in "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" territory than taking away Mozart's piano.

This. From what I read in his Wired interview, Cosmo is only good at social engineering... a con artist, not a tech genius.

luthia:A Shambling Mound: luthia: As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

/now i have to watch hackers again. curse you people.

The alternative was several years in prison but he's being made an example of by being placed on probation for six years with supervised access to telecommunication devices.

Got it.

Triumph: luthia: 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life

Every aspect of life completely ruined. Every aspect.

Aren't we farking sassy today.

The plea and subsequent probation are not the example, the charges are. Both of which I think are too strong for a 15 year old. The plea is a reaction to said example.

The charges were appropriate for his crimes and in this particular instance I do not think the fact that he is only 15 should have resulted in lesser charges. He went for "epic" and he got it.

BarkingUnicorn:Jim_Callahan: Zarquon's Flat Tire: Kid will be on a burner or something by the end of the week. Then he will figure out the next gen mobile banking based scams.

And then he'll be prosecuted as an adult due to it being his second felony prosecution.

I mean, he's pretty bad at cons. How can you tell? Dude not only got caught, but left enough evidence to get arrested. We're more in "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" territory than taking away Mozart's piano.

This. From what I read in his Wired interview, Cosmo is only good at social engineering... a con artist, not a tech genius.

Forget computer security. He should run for Congress.

Ah. The article wouldn't load on my phone so I guessed that he was good. Still don't know what he did.

luthia:As much as I agree the Mozart quote was ass-hattery, 6 years is crazy. Especially today, the net being as important as it is for every aspect of life. This kid is just being made example of really. In stead of rounding up all the hundreds of his little buddies.

/now i have to watch hackers again. curse you people.

How would you even get through a typical college curriculum without Internet access? And I doubt they'll use it less at schools three to six years from now.

Mayhem of the Black Underclass:and UFC.comWT everloving F? No, seriously, that's what you went after? If it was because it was so easy, you should've put yourself as points leader, or reigning world champion, or whatever they do, and told the webmaster to invest in better security. Did you do it because you were angry at the result of a fight? Now I think you're a petty dickwad, and I don't follow, nor have I watched more than 3 UFC fights.

UFC came out as strong proponents of SOPA. They actively prosecute online violators whenever possible.